43-year-old Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez. Gonzalez's severely decomposed body was found in an abandoned, burnt-out third-floor apartment in Bridgeport, Conn. on Friday Jan. 20, 2012 .Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, a Florida man has been arrested and charged with the murder of Gonzalez and is being held pending extradition to Connecticut.

Talitha Frazier holds a photograph of her brother-in-law, Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez, as she speaks in front of Superior Gourt, on Golden Hill Street, in Bridgeport, Conn. following the arraignment of Tyree Smith, Feb. 1st, 2012. Smith is charged with the murder of Gonzalez.

Talitha Frazier holds a photograph of her brother-in-law, Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez, as she speaks in front of Superior Gourt, on Golden Hill Street, in Bridgeport, Conn. following the arraignment of Tyree

Tyree Smith is arraigned in Superior Court, on Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport, Conn., Feb. 1st, 2012. Smith is charged with the murder of Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez. He is seen here with defense attorney Joseph Bruckmann.

Tyree Smith is arraigned in Superior Court, on Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport, Conn., Feb. 1st, 2012. Smith is charged with the murder of Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez. He is seen here with defense attorney Joseph

Talitha Frazier holds a photograph of her brother-in-law, Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez, as she speaks in front of Superior Court, on Golden Hill Street, in Bridgeport, Conn. following the arraignment of Tyree Smith, Feb. 1st, 2012. Smith is charged with the murder of Gonzalez.

Talitha Frazier holds a photograph of her brother-in-law, Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez, as she speaks in front of Superior Court, on Golden Hill Street, in Bridgeport, Conn. following the arraignment of Tyree

BRIDGEPORT -- A city man accused of hacking another man to death with an ax and eating part of his brain and other body parts had threatened to kill his alleged victim a week earlier over a financial dispute, a relative of the alleged victim said Monday.

Tyree Smith, 35, pleaded not guilty Monday to a murder charge in the Dec. 15 death of Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez in Bridgeport. Talitha Frazier, Gonzalez's sister-in-law, said the two men knew each other and that the killing was premeditated, though previously she had said they didnt't know each other.

"Angel told me that Tyree came to him a week before and threatened to kill him if he didn't pay Tyree the money he owed him," Frazier said outside the courtroom.

Gonzalez worked off and on as a mechanic and doing odd jobs like shoveling snow, family members said.

Frazier said she didn't know how much money, if any, the victim owed, "but it couldn't have been much. When I asked him about it, (Gonzalez) said `Don't worry about it. He's not going to do anything to me.' "

Smith confronted Gonzalez in a house on Pembroke Street, Frazier said. She said she didn't know why, or if, her brother-in-law owed his accused killer any money. "What I don't get is, if he is insane, how is he writing a book? If he's not insane, then I will push all the way for the death penalty.''

Smith waived his right to a probable cause hearing, answering Judge Robert Devlin's questions with a simple yes or no during the brief hearing in state Superior Court in Bridgeport. The Ansonia native, who has been in custody since his January arrest, appeared with his hands cuffed behind his back and wearing a dark green prison jumpsuit. The dark green suit denotes a potentially dangerous or high-risk defendant, a Corrections Department official said. Two marshals stood directly behind Smith at the defense table.

Smith is charged with killing Gonzalez in an abandoned house on Brooks Street in Bridgeport and eating one of Gonzalez's eyeballs and part of his brain. Devlin set the next hearing date in the case for April 16.

Upon hearing Smith's plea, the victim's stepdaughter, Odalys Gonzalez, stormed angrily from the courtroom, yelling, "This is bull...." She was wearing a T-shirt with Gonzalez's photo and the caption "R.I.P. Tun Tun" on it.

Smith's lawyer, Corrie-Ann L. Mainville, objected to the presence of a TV news crew in the courtroom, but Devlin overruled her motion.

"The court has to have a compelling reason not to allow a camera in the courtroom, and this is a case with significant public interest,'' the judge said.

Bridgeport police say Smith hacked Gonzalez to death with an ax, removed an eyeball and a portion of his brain, then carried it with him to Lakeview Cemetery.

Gonzalez's mutilated, decomposing body was found in the burnt-out Brooks Street apartment building by a city building inspector more than a month later.

Both Smith and Gonzalez once had lived in the Brooks Street house, in different apartments, Frazier said.

Smith moved from Ansonia to California after high school and then to Florida before eventually ending up homeless in Bridgeport early this year.

He is a single father, an unpublished writer and a former model who had sought help at mental health facilities.

Smith had made a series of increasingly bizarre entries on his Facebook page, culminating last July 3 when he wrote: "Devouring your flesh. Smelling your bodies burn in a heap. ... I hate the day they created you filthy humans. There. Thats whats been on my mind since a child. Happy?"